Caller Identification (Caller ID) enables telephone conference caller participants to identify a caller before picking up the telephone. Caller ID is useful when the caller does not identify himself and immediately begins a conversation. Caller ID has solved the problem of awkwardly interrupting a telephone conversation in order to identify the other party involved. However. Caller ID cannot identify the speaking party where there are multiple party telephone conversations, such as during a conference call.
Due to increased travel costs and the cost of office space, conference call meetings have increased in popularity. Frequently, the participants call into a conference calling service which links the appropriate callers together. To attend a conference call, the parties call a specific telephone number and identify themselves with a conference call number specific to each party. All of the parties are then linked together on a common line and the conference call proceeds. During the conference call, it is often difficult to identify the speaker at any given time. Interrupting the conference call to identify the speaker is not preferable as it disrupts the flow of the conference call. Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and a method for identifying and indicating the speaker during a conference call.